CTU tells members to report to work Monday ahead of vote on whether to work remotely
CHICAGO - Chicago Teachers Union leaders told members during a closed-door town hall call Sunday evening to report to school Monday, but they plan to gauge support for a district-wide remote learning action later this week.
On Tuesday, the CTU plans to call a meeting of its House of Delegates, elected members who represent their schools, to discuss a citywide action. The union will also hold an electronic vote of its members on whether they approve of working remotely without CPS permission. If both are in favor, the union plans to take action and do so starting Wednesday, demanding better COVID-19 safety protocols, including increased testing and access to better masks.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday insisted that schools are safe.
"Our schools are not the source of significant spread. The issue is community spread. But we need to keep our kids in schools, which is what we’re going to do in Chicago," Lightfoot said during a live interview on CNBC.
Lightfoot was not asked during the interview about the CTU’s threat to work remotely without authorization. But the mayor reiterated her intention to keep Chicago Public Schools open, in part, because of what she called the "devastating" and lingering impact on students from the prolonged, pandemic-induced shutdown.
Too often that impact is ignored in the "coverage of the saber-rattling by teachers union leadership," Lightfoot said.
"We know that learning loss was profound. We know that there were huge gaps in achievement. We know that the mental health and trauma issues of our students was real. And we know that it was devastating on families, particularly those families where parents could not afford" to stay home from work, the mayor said.
Certain charter schools decided to conduct virtual learning this week because of a spike in COVID-19 cases. At Plato Learning Academy, an American Quality Schools charter and Chicago Public Schools contract school in South Austin, first grade students will learn remotely until Jan. 10 after a staff member normally in the classroom tested positive for the virus, said Principal Charles Williams.
"As of the last day of school… of our nine classrooms, only three were in building, and we only had 14 kids show up," Williams said. "I’m assuming that as we move into the new year, cases will start popping up."
Williams said he thinks all students should learn remotely this week, though it would only be effective if CPS families took the time seriously to ensure coming back to school healthy.
Some schools are taking matters into their own hands. Teachers and parents at Park Manor Elementary School plan to teach and learn remotely Monday without administrative permission. Just before winter break, at least two dozen students and staff at the Greater Grand Crossing community school tested positive for COVID-19, sending the majority of the school into quarantine, according to a CTU news release.
In response to questions about mounting pressure to switch schools to online learning, CPS sent the Chicago Sun-Times the letter sent out to district families Sunday evening, saying "there are no plans to transition the entire district to remote learning." Students don’t need to be tested before returning to the classroom, but parents should keep their children home if they show any symptoms of the virus.
CPS made available thousands of at-home testing kits over winter break and parents used them.
In fact, some FedEx drop-off centers overflowed with boxes containing COVID test kits that were provided by CPS. Parents were instructed to test their children before returning to school and drop off the completed kit at a FedEx box.
Some parents now say the test results were inconclusive.
"It's very confusing how we took our time out to bring the children to comply with CPS and we got no results," said one CPS parent. "How can I allow my children to come back and they don't even have a negative or positive result? That was supposed to be the end result to ensure that they were safe going back into the building."
FOX 32's Joanie Lum contributed to this report.